New York - Khartoum: Europe and the Arabs
A group of ten emergency managers from UN agencies and NGOs concluded a joint visit to Sudan on Thursday “to sound the alarm about the extremely devastating situation across the country, including catastrophic levels of food insecurity and the growing risk of famine.” According to what was stated in the United Nations daily news bulletin, a copy of which we received on Friday morning
At a press conference in New York, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that humanitarian workers are deeply concerned about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country, and urgently need to expand humanitarian access across conflict lines and borders “to reach those in need wherever they are.”
He also pointed to the lack of resources available for operations there, as the humanitarian appeal for Sudan remains only ten percent funded, “despite the generous pledges made in Paris about two weeks ago.”
Regarding the clashes and escalating tensions in El Fasher, Mr. Dujarric said that humanitarian workers are deeply disturbed by the situation of civilians in and around the city.
He added: “We are particularly concerned about restrictions on the movements of civilians and reports that they are being attacked and robbed as they attempt to flee south from the North Darfur state capital. Fighting in and around the city has cut off humanitarian access to civilians who are in desperate need of assistance.” .
The United Nations spokesman warned that if violence escalates in El Fasher, more than 360,000 people will be deprived of food aid and livelihood support, and more than 100,000 people will lose shelter assistance, stressing that the escalation may also have “negative repercussions on Humanitarian access to other states in the Darfur region.”